Concerns Raised About Impact of ICANN’s Proposed Domain Plan

Barry Byers7, Sep, 2011

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned and Numbers) had proposed a new domain plan that will enable any company to purchase a simple domain name for its brand. This means that any organization capable of paying $185,000 will be able to choose a domain name of its own choice, including the suffix that will replace “.com”.

The plan has been strongly opposed by ANA (Association of National Advertisers). In a letter to Rod Beckstrom, ICANN president, ANA warns the web domain authority of disastrous consequences, if the proposed plan is implemented. Bob Liodice, the CEO and President of the Association of National Advertisers, offered a number of reasons for strongly opposing the new ICANN plan.

According to him, the implementation of the plan will lead to confusion. The move is likely to dilute brands and reduce the power of trademarks. It also increases the risk of identity thefts, consumer privacy violations, cyber security breaches and harm caused by cyber predators.

Liodice also said that the new domain plan goes against the web domain authority’s Code of Conduct and contravenes sound public policy. Emphasizing his strong opposition, Liodice also stated that implementing the plan means forcing organizations to buy domains with their own brand names from ICANN. He also pointed out that as the country’s economy is still recovering from a huge crisis, it was a really bad time to implement such a plan.

If the new plan comes into effect, SEO experts may have to make some major changes in their strategies. As far as established brands are concerned, they will be left with only two options – risk brand dilution or divert monetary, legal and marketing resources towards protecting their domains.